Other views: Delisting gray wolves

Feds taking comments through Sept. 11

Chicago Tribune

They're intelligent, majestic and, owing to the blood lust of Homo sapiens, never far from extinction. Yet to biologists and ecologists worldwide, the best case for saving wild wolves is their role as predator of some species and, paradoxically, shepherd to others: By stalking abundant elk, moose and other forest browsers, wolves unwittingly enhance the growth of crucial vegetation that gives foxes, beavers, songbirds, pronghorn antelopes and other critters a chance to survive.

Today, though, the survival most imminently threatened is that of the American gray wolf itself. Early in June an arm of the Obama administration pleased the politically influential livestock industry - plus hunting interests still smarting over gun control bills - by proposing that the wolves no longer need protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Until Sept. 11, citizens can submit comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We hope you'll join the fray (details below) and tell the feds how premature and reckless that policy reversal would be: Continuing today's level of protection would give wolves a chance to widen their territories and continue to recover - as bald eagles, alligators, brown pelicans and falcons were allowed to do when they, too, faced obliteration.

- Read more: http://fe.gd/B4D

Missoulian (Mont.)

Montana (Fish, Wildlife and Parks) continues to make adjustments to the state's wolf management plan here. This is as it should be. Although this editorial board does not agree with every aspect of the state's plans, we acknowledge that those plans are designed to be as responsive as possible to widely diverse needs. The concerns of ranchers, hunters, conservationists and others are all being taken into account.

And should the states fail in their mission, Endangered Species Act protections can be applied again.

But no species should be need permanent protection - especially not when all evidence proves they have fully recovered. In the decade preceding partial delisting, gray wolf recovery efforts cost the U.S. government some $102 million. That, in addition to the $15.6 million provided by the states. The federal government's time, money and attention is better spent on protecting those species on the brink of extinction.

...Speak up, and lend your support to fully delisting gray wolves.

- Read more: http://fe.gd/B4T

Salt Lake Tribune

Advocates for delisting the wolf say management decisions should be made at the state level, not by federal agencies, now that the reintroduction process is complete. The problem with state-level decisions is that in the minds of many officials, "management" of the wolf is synonymous with "eradicating" the animal. For example, Wyoming's proposed management plan essentially allowed anyone to shoot any wolf on sight for any reason. That's not management.

Maintaining wildlife populations for human hunters and protecting livestock are the primary objectives of most local officials and ranchers, who still see the wolf as, at best, an unnecessary nuisance, and, at worst, an evil demon bent on wiping out whole herds of cattle and sheep. In reality, wolves improve the ecosystems they share with elk, moose and deer, as scientific research has shown in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem since their reintroduction.